On Monday, Bloomberg, citing data from Vortexa, reported that India’s purchase of Russian crude oil has skyrocketed by a factor of 33, year over year as of December 2022.

Last month, India, the world’s third-biggest importer of crude oil, purchased 1.2 million barrels of crude oil per day from Russia on average. That was an increase of 29% over November’s numbers, according to the data. Reportedly, Russia is now India’s biggest fuel supplier, having surpassed Iraq and Saudi Arabia several months back.

India has strongly favored Russian crude shipments, after Western sanctions on Russia due to the war in Ukraine caused Russia to offer its fuel at a significant discount to encourage sales. Although many Western nations shunned Russian fuel, Asia and India have been reliable purchasers. The latest sanctions imposed by the West include a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian seaborne crude, however Russia has said it will not sell to any nation which seeks to impose it, or even mentions it in any contract document.

Serena Huang, lead Asia analyst at Vortexa said in an interview with Bloomberg, “Russia has likely offered its crude at an attractive discount to Indian refiners, which have surpassed China as the largest importer of Russian crude,” adding that India in recent months has increased its purchases of other grades, like Arco, Sakhalin and Varandey, as well as Urals.

Because India imports over 85% of the nation’s oil demand, its petroleum sector is highly vulnerable to price volatility in the market. After New Delhi outlawed increases in the price of diesel and gasoline at the pump, state owned refiners increased their imports of cheaper Russian crude as a way of saving costs and maintaining profit margins.

In December, India also increased its crude imports from Iraq and Saudi Arabia, its other major suppliers. Iraqi purchases were up 7% over the previous month to almost 886,000 barrels per day. Imports from Saudi Arabia increased by 12% over the previous month, to almost 748,000 barrels per day.